A bomb has been found on a golf course in Northern Ireland, it was confirmed this evening.

The pipe bomb-style device was discovered this morning on the green at Strabane golf club in County Tyrone just a few miles from the border with the Irish Republic.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland said those responsible for the bomb at the course had endangered the lives of golfers and staff at the club.

A senior PSNI commander in the area said they believed the purpose had been to lure officers onto the course with a view to launching a second attack on police.

PSNI chief inspector Andy Lemon said: "This device comprised nuts and bolts packed with explosives into a pipe. While police may have been the intended target, golfers, ground staff or members of the community passing by could have been killed or maimed."

He added: "This bears the hallmarks of an attempt to draw police into the area. But this was an attack on the community as much as on the police.

"I believe that the vast majority of people in Strabane do not want this type of incident and I would call on them to give us their assistance in bringing those behind it to justice."

Suspicion will inevitably fall on one of the three main anti-ceasefire republican factions – the new IRA, Continuity IRA and Oghlaigh na hEireann – who have continued over recent weeks to launch attacks on police patrols across Northern Ireland.

Almost three weeks ago dissident republicans detonated a mortar type device as a police drove past the city cemetery in west Belfast along the Falls Road. A young Filipino family narrowly escaped injury when some of the shrapnel from masonry dislodged off the cemetery war hit their car.